Priestly Says
by XxFlyingLizardxX
Summary: Kadince is just a regular girl who with the help of her friend is looking for her dad, but sometimes what you're looking for is closer than you think...
1. Tampons, Kids, and Sandwiches, oh my!

-1**Well this is my first fic that isn't for Charmed or Twilight and I really hope that you guys like it. I don't own Ten Inch Hero, I just have the DVD and own about 4 characters in this story.**

"Remind me again why we took a job at a sandwich shop for the entire summer?" Teresa asked for the second time in twenty minutes.

"Because we're trying to find my apparent father." I replied.

"We don't even know the dude's name!" Abby yelled.

"Well I do, it starts with a P, I think. It's like Paul, or Preston, or Presley…you guys didn't have to come!" I exclaimed defeated.

Just then the bell on the door signaled a customer. Well we thought it was a customer at first. It turned out to be a guy with a green Mohawk and lots of piercings similar to mine. He looked very confused.

"Who are you and why are you behind the counter?" he asked slowly.

The girl named Piper that let us in earlier came out of the back.

"They're the new people." she stated simply. Teresa and Abby waved, I nodded.

"New people? No one told me we were getting new people, much less small people!" he said.

"Priestly just say hi and move on." Piper replied.

"Hi and move on." Priestly smirked walking towards the back room. I blinked, Priestly started with a P. He seemed to be the right age, my mom's 30 he looks 30. Man this was weird. I figured it would take at least a couple days to find him, you know a bit of a struggle, not just poof he's there. Abby elbowed me in the ribs. Piper gave us a strange look.

"You two okay?" she asked.

"Yeah Kadince just had an epiphany and Abby caught on." Teresa answered.

"Epiphany? What kind of epiphany?" another blonde woman asked as she entered, "Hi," she said, seeing the three of us.

"Jen, this is Teresa, Abby, and Kadince. The one's Trucker hired for the summer." Piper explained.

"Cool," Jen replied as Priestly came out of the back room with an apron tied around his waste, "I was wondering who they would be."

"You knew, too?!" Priestly yelled.

"Not exactly a secret." I muttered.

"Trucker said since there's three of us now," Piper began, glancing over at a pained Priestly, " thay we should all train one." she shrugged.

"So do we just pick one or something?" Priestly smirked.

"I like it." Piper grinned, Jen just shook her head.

"I have dibs on the girl with the curly hair!" Piper said.

"Teresa." Teresa deadpanned.

"Well then I get nose ring girl." Priestly said.

"Wow I feel so wanted." Abby said, "It's because I'm black isn't it?!"

"Abby it hasn't been because you were black since the fourth grade." I laughed, "Besides you get Jen, I get Mr. Roboto."

"Mr. Roboto?" Priestly asked.

"Half of your face is metal or do you own a mirror?" I quipped.

"I could say the same of you princess."

"Aww there wit is compatible." Teresa laughed.

It didn't seem really busy that day probably because it started to pour mercilessly around 11:45.

"Hey Priestly, we need you and Kadince to make a supply run." Jen said around 12:30 interrupting an intense staring contest between the two of us. He was staring and muttering something about knowing he's seen me somewhere. I was staring because this guy was probably my dad.

"Why us?" Priestly whined.

"Because we want to see if you rust in the rain." Abby laughed.

"Ha ha Abby, you're so hilarious." I snark.

The trip to the store was a fairly quiet one. Not exactly much to talk about and my small talk skills leave something to be desired.

"So why of all places did you and your friends choose to work at the grill?" Priestly asked, lazily wandering down the aisle.

"Well we're kind of looking for somebody." I stuttered slightly like I normally do when I'm nervous.

"And how does a job help you?" he asked pulling random objects from shelves.

Yeah um I'm just gonna say you're my dad probably and run away now! How's that work? I thought to myself. Why would working at a restaurant help you find someone?

"Because Teresa thinks she's seen him go by there pretty often." I lie sort of I mean Teresa's never seen my dad there but he's obviously there often.

"Well I've probably seen him then. What's he look like?"

Maybe is I just told him half then I wouldn't be lying technically but I wouldn't have dropped a bombshell either.

"He-he sort of looks like um… me." I say picking up a box of graham crackers, suddenly finding it very interesting they can make them so large and only have 20calories per serving. (totally false just needing something for her to find fascinating)

"So he's like a long lost twin brother or something?" Priestly asked staring at the box with me.

"Um sort of only older and more parental and not a sibling." I explain.

"your dad then?" he takes the box from my hand and puts it back on the shelf as I nod.

"Come on one more aisle and we can go." he sighs, he has a strange look on his face now. I sigh too, only more out of relief than anything else. I was just glad to be done with that conversation. The last aisle was certainly the most interesting. It was in fact the tampon aisle, well 'feminine products' that's the mature way of putting it apparently. Priestly stood there a moment, staring at the wall of boxes. I stood to the right of him folding my arms over my chest.

"God I hate this aisle." he whispered. I took a step forward grabbed one of the 'variety' boxes and handed it back to him.

"There you go." I smirk.

"But shouldn't we just get the regular kind my girlfr- well this girl who used to be my friend, says that you shouldn't get-" Priestly started before I cut him off.

"Well it's a perspective thing, you start, you need it. I mean not everyone wants to go home just cause they're bleeding from the vaj," I watch Priestly flinch before continuing," they might actually want to sit down and enjoy their sandwich on a heavy flow day." I shrug.

"Flow- I hate that words it's just so-"

"Descriptive?" I supply.

"Um yeah."

"So what's up with the girl that used to be your friend?"

"I don't really want to go there." Priestly replied as we walked to the checkout.

"Well I told you about my summer father-finding adventure, you kind of owe me too, what with the tampon thing."

"I guess, but there's no other way to repay you?" he asked desperately.

"It'll make you feel better if you talk about it." I suggested.

"Alright fine, there was this girl, Tish, she worked at the grill about a year ago. I really- I mean really- liked her. She would barely give me the time of day, though, you know? I figured maybe, maybe if I changed, created this whole new me, which was actually the old me before I became- are you following this?" he asked as he lost his mindset and became utterly confused.

"You tried to be the old you that you thought she would like better than this you, the new you that you personally feel is better apparently." I say as he nods.

"Well she liked the old-new, I guess- me and we went out a couple of times. Then, I started to miss the new-which was now older kind of- me, and the dye in my hair and my shirts, and my kilt, I love my kilt. Anyway, I wanted that me back, so I started being me again and Tish didn't like that. She broke up with me hung out around the grill for a few days and then just up and left. Went to like New York I think, it's not like she ever told me exactly."

"Well that's just total bullshit. " I say looking up at him. "I mean really you shouldn't have had to go back to the old you in the first place. I mean it's obvious you didn't like who you were then, that's why you changed. Since you didn't like him she shouldn't have liked him. She should've liked you for the Priestly that you are now. Not who you were then." that's when he parks the car and we both get out and head towards the trunk.

"I guess, but-I mean-I don't know."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I swear I know this girl from somewhere. At least I think I do. She reminds me of Katie.. Well at least when we were in high school. I have no idea what she's doing now. She could be married with a couple of kids, driving a minivan. No, that's not Katie. She's probably a drummer in an indie rock band that does covers of Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins songs at coffee shops on open mike night. We should have one of those, I should tell Trucker. I would see Katie again. Maybe she's not even a Katie anymore. I don't know if she could even be a Katherine, Kate maybe, I could live with Kate, I could still call her Katie then. Why do I even care, though? Why would she care? Would she even remember a dorky high school boyfriend with a stupid name like Boaz that ran away from home two days after they did it? Is that why I changed for Tish? Because Katie was the polar opposite of her and Katie liked the two of me, so I assumed that Tish would only like the one? Wow, ok headache. There has to be an answer somewhere. Am I just hiding from Katie? But why would I hide from the person I love-loved- loved, should be loved. I was fifteen, I was stupid, I couldn't still be. Well I could I guess, but why? Damn I need help.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"So how was your first day?" asked me as I scrambled through the door, tired beyond belief.

"Um, it was boring." I answer kind of omitting the part of meeting my dad person guy. I don't think she really needs to know that quite yet.

"I'm sure it'll be better tomorrow, it's supposed to be nice out." she replies absentmindedly while she starts cooking some spaghetti sauce.

"Yeah I guess." I pull out my laptop from the shelf below the counter of the island I start up my iTunes and go to my mom's spaghetti mix. I have lots of free time and two thousand songs, the only thing to do is make play lists for every occasion. I even have one on my iPod for my dad, based off of what my mom told me.

She always tells me things in various detail. Sometimes she'll tell me stuff like he was actually named Boaz, but he hated the name. He signed every little love note that he wrote her as Priestly. It sometimes had a Nirvana smiley face next to it. Those were always her favorite, she has a couple of them and the smiley face ones are my favorite because there's one where they were having a random conversation about names and he always said that he loved her name but his favorite name for a girl was Cadence, but he thought that it should be spelled Kadince without the c or the e because it flowed better.

Other times she would be very vague, only saying things like a mumbled,

"You have his eyes," and that would be all she needed to say because she'd say it like she didn't just mean the color because other times she would tell me that I had his entire eye I saw the world the way he did I always had the same looks in my eyes that he did, and it would make my day.

I know that she's still in love with him too, that's why I need to find him so desperately, not for me, even though I would like to know him too, but for my mom, I have to go to college in a few years, and I don't think I want to just leave her alone like that. I know that she would survive and live perfectly fine on her own, but that doesn't mean I want her to. She's told me before how he ran away a few days after I was conceived and that she'd always wished he'd stayed because she could tell that I would've just brought them all the more closer, which I'm thinking was already pretty damn close.

I've seen various examples of this love, too. She's tried seeing other guys. A whole lot of other guys have been attempted. Whenever it ended though she would look at me, right in the eyes, sigh and say,

"He just wasn't _him,._"

After a couple of clicks on my keyboard a plate of spaghetti was set to my left. I figured if there was anytime to tell her what I knew, it would be now.

"What are you working on?" Priestly asked sitting down next to me, while simultaneously pulling out my earbuds with a single tug. It was a week after I told my mom, I was at the grill, but I had the day off. I closed my notebook quickly. I was writing my half ass plan on just how I intended to tell him that he was my dad.

"It's just a couple thoughts from my head that were getting stuck, you know? They're like peanut butter on the roof of your mouth in my brain," I said.

"Don't you have the day off," he asked as I nodded, " well if I were you I'd get the hell out of here before they have dishes for you to wash." he grinned.

"I'll be out in fifteen, soon as Teresa and Abby get here, they're taking me to the skate rink for a present."

"It's your birthday?" he asked.

"It's sixteen days until July 16, that's my half birthday, they like to do weird things like that." I shrugged as Teresa fell against the right window trying to put the kickstand down on her bike. I saw Abby behind her shake her head slowly look at me and mouth the word 'dumbass', which made me start laughing.

"I'll see you tomorrow." I told Priestly throwing my notebook in my excessively large tote bag which my mom says every eccentric artist girl needs.

"Good luck with the peanut butter thoughts, and stuff." he replied as I ran out the door.

"Did you tell him?" Abby asked as I situated myself onto her handlebars. Abby, who's my most bold friend always thought I should take the bomb dropping approach and just tell him and wait for a reaction. I didn't think that was the best way to go about it.

"No Abby not yet I'll telling you I have to figure out a way to tell him first."

"Well all I'm saying is you know and your mom knows and I think it's about time he knew." Abby said.

"He hasn't known for 15 years what's a couple more weeks for her to build up steam going to hurt?" Teresa asked. Teresa always seemed to tell where I was coming from most of the time, even if half the situations I've been in she hasn't been in, she's pretty damn good at guestimating.

"Thank you Teresa." I say nodding in her direction.

"See this is why we need a fourth, so I can have someone that agrees with me all the time." Abby said.

"Oh wa." I said turning my head to stick my tongue out at her, which she retaliated with by swerving back and forth pushing me along with the handlebars almost throwing me off.

"Abby play nice." Teresa quipped with a giggle.

"Yes Abby don't be petty, it doesn't suit you and it's not very ladylike ." I say hoping off the bike as we arrived at the rink.

"Like you have much room to talk about being ladylike, Kadince, you practically wrote the guide to tomboyishness." Abby retorted. Tomboyish is the adjective that Abby made up for me, because I'm kind of a tomboy but girly at the same time so she didn't want to call me a tomboy or a girly-girl and so she said I have a certain tomboyish quality to me.

I hopped off Abby's handlebars walked into the rink and decided to just try to leave all these family complications for another day.  
**I think this is the longest first chapter I've ever written. So yeah this is it tell me what you think. **


	2. Beautiful

**Hey everyone, yes I finally get to update, and props to my friend Abby who was nice enough to help me write this chapter! I only one a copy of the DVD.**

It was a few weeks later at the grill before me and Abby's shift started so we were hanging in the back alley arguing about when I should tell Priestly that he was my father. She still wants me to go with the whole bomb dropping approach . I've day-dreamed about it a couple times and it always ends with me screaming, peeing my pants and me running away simultaneously . I on the other hand wanted to go with the whole slipping a note under the door and running like hell and possibly peeing my pants. I have bladder control issues if you haven't noticed.

" I don't see why you just can't tell him. If he were MY dad then he would have already known by now, and we would live happily ever after in our little made up world of facial piercings, kilts and dyed hair." said Abby waving her hands in the air.

"Well as fanciful and carefree as that sounds, there's also some sort of aftermath where he could reject me and send me into my only little world of brooding, depression, and ice cream." I rebutted, "Oh and speaking of ice cream, I heard there's this cute little ice cream shop around the corner and we have 15 minutes until-"

"Kadince! Stop changing the subject! You are going to march your little white ass in there and tell that man with the green Mohawk you are his daughter!"

"Abby! For the last time! I am not going to tell Priestly he is my father until I am damn well ready to!" as soon as I shouted this at the top of my lungs, which in retrospect was probably a bad idea anyway, I heard a sort of 'ker-splunk' behind me. I turned slowly and winced as I saw that the cause of this ker-splunk was the man I was hoping to avoid. It was Priestly, er, my dad now I guess. Tears welled up in my eyes and my feet suddenly took off and I willed myself to go anywhere, any place, any place would be better than here.

Oh. My. God. Did she really just say what I thought she said. It all makes sense now, that connection I feel whenever I talk to her, like I'm talking to….Katie. Myself. Both of us at the same time. Which probably makes sense since she is the product of both me and Katie. I know what I've got to do. I have to go after her. I have to find her. I have to let her know that its going to be ok. That I'm….happy with this. With her. And that I'm going to be here for her from now on, because I wasn't there for her before. I turn to Abby unsure of the sort of excuse to use.

"Ah! Abby! New daughter! Must find! Gotta go! Make things right! Back in 20!" My feet started to storm the ground unsure of where the girl could've possibly dreamed of going, but knowing that I would find her, that I wouldn't let her down like I already have.

Seeing as now I was the only one working the shift for at least the next 20 minutes I decided I should go and tell Trucker I was in need of reinforcements.

"Yo Trucker! Two of your fave employees are M.I.A! I'm gonna need some assistance! For at least 20 minutes anyway."

Trucker came out of the storage room that doubled as his office for bills and stuff.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Kadince accidentally let slip that our mohawked -wonder is her father. Then she took off running, and then Priestly told me he had to go find her, and then he went off too. I would've left, but someone had to be the responsible one." Trucker smirked at me as he tied an apron around his waste.

"Take the orders I'll make 'em." was all he said.

"Aren't you shocked? I mean it's been fifteen years and all of a sudden he's a dad! That doesn't shock you? A family has been working together here for weeks now and you didn't know, and you aren't even surprised?" I yelled.

"I knew, I just didn't tell them I knew." he replied.

"How could you've known? I didn't even know until she told me when we were applying for here." I was officially confused now.

"What can I say? They're just each other, two tripping peas in the same far our pod."

"You're a weird one Mr. Trucker." I replied wondering where my wayward friend had gone off to and deciding that I'd have to text Teresa as soon as possible.

I gasped for air falling into the sand, I cried, I cried for being stupid, how could I have done that? I just messed everything up for myself now, there was no way to make this work now. Why didn't I just tell him before? Why couldn't I be as courageous as my mom? Why couldn't I just walk up to him and say, "Hi Priestly, I'm Kadince, and I think you're my father."

"Kadince!" I heard someone yell. I looked up it was him. I tensed ready to hop back up and take off again but he got to me too quickly, I couldn't out run him now.

"Kadince, why didn't you tell me?" Priestly asked as he grabbed my arm.

"WHAT DID YOU WANT ME TO SAY?" I screamed, "DID YOU WANT ME TO JUST COME AND YELL AT YOU AND BE PISSED AT YOU FOR A THING YOU COULDN'T CONTROL? IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED? What did you want me to do Priestly?" I started crying again.

He pulled me in close and held me to his chest. I sobbed, I buried my face into the crook of his neck and I cried like a toddler that stumbled to the ground and hit their head. With some amazing feat of strength he hoisted me up and wrapped my legs around his waist. He whispered into my ear and lowered himself to the ground. He rocked back and forth.

"It's ok Kadince, I'm here now, it's gonna be ok, I'm here. Shhh, you're ok, you're fine. I'm here now Kade. I know it took a while but I'm here now." he whispered as he ran his hand through my hair tucking strands behind my ear, kissing the top of my head as he muttered various happy thoughts into my ear. I felt like a six year old again, but I didn't care. I didn't care anymore, as much as I tired to fight the idea, as much as I tried to convince myself that I was fine without a dad, that I was only looking for him for the sake of my mom, I knew it was a lie. I was doing it for me, it was selfish I knew, but I just wanted to know. I wanted to know what it was like to have a dad. I love my mom. I swear to God that I do, but it's just, after so long, after going to school day after day and seeing dads pick up their kids after school and swing them into their arms with a smile or a laugh. After seeing Teresa's dad comfort her after she got stood up. I just wanted to know what that was like. What it was like to have a man in your life that wasn't trying to be your buddy, or act like he should be father of the year, just to get in your mom's pants. I suppose the simplest way to put it was that, since I was little, I wanted a daddy. I wanted a guy in my life to hug me when I was sad, to mutter meaningless things to me when I was sick to make me feel better, a dad to be there and make all the hurt go away. And as I sat here, I realized, what I had wanted since I was five years old, the dream that I had always held onto no matter how much I tried to mask it, to try to make it seem less like a selfish, childish thing, it was finally coming true. I'd waited so long for this. And here it was, just all of the sudden, out of the blue, everything I pictured could happen if I had a dad, it was all happening now, and it felt beautiful.

I rocked Kadince back and forth, and I whispered into her ear. I didn't know what else to do, but it just felt like it was what I was supposed to do, so it was what I did.

It hit me then, that this wasn't just the teenage girl that was here for a summer job that was sitting on my lap. It was my daughter, my freaking daughter. I have a daughter, I have a little girl, who isn't little anymore. God I've missed so much, hell I've missed everything! I never thought I've screwed up that bad in my life, but I was wrong. I ruined this girl's life, I ruined Katie's life, hell I probably fucked up my own life. And why? Because my parents were nut jobs? I couldn't stick it out for Katie? I am such an asshole.

"I'm so sorry Kadince, so so sorry." I whispered to her.

"It's ok." her voice was choked up and quiet, not what I was used to. It hurt me, I did this, I made her hurt.

"I'll make it better, it'll be better." I laid us back in the sand trying to get more comfortable. Almost reflexively she laid her head on my chest, and everything just…clicked. It felt right. This girl, my baby girl, was hurting, and I was trying to make it better, trying to hug away the hurt. It was just it was…beautiful.

**Wow ok so….if you read any of my other stories you understand that I currently reside, and am matriarch, of the Land of Update Failure. I can't even believe it took me this long, but hey it's summer, far into summer, and I have some time so I'll try to get a few more chapters up hopefully.**


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